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We are planning a west coast cruise in the fall of 2018. There are four of us (my wife and I and our son and daughter-in-law) All are 7 day cruises with 2 sea days. We have all spent time before in LA and Vancouver. Here are the options we are considering:

LA, to LA with stops in SF, Monterey, Ensenada and San Diego
SF to SF with stops in LA, Monterey, Ensenada and San Diego
LA to Vancouver with stops in SF (overnight), San Diego and Seattle
SF to SF with stops in Astoria, Seattle, Victoria and Vancouver
Seattle to Seattle with stops in San Francisco (overnight), Victoria and Astoria

Since it seems that you have not been to San Francisco I would look hard at either of those two itineraries. I would recommend spending a few day in San Francisco before the cruise as there is so much to do and see. I would be more partial to the second of the two San Francisco sailings since the first one has a stop in Los Angeles (San Pedro) and you are far from things to do and I am not big on Ensenada.

Since you've been to Vancouver before I'm inclined to backup Keith's suggestion - being able to spend extra time in SF would be a great idea. Whether to do the northern loop rather than southern... I guess depends whether you feel you'd enjoy the respective port options more or less (weather-wise it would be warmer to head south of course).

While I agree that San Pedro is far from the bulk of LA attractions, I found it a quite delightful place for a 1 day port stop - some decent historic options right in the port and lots of lunch places a modest walk/short cab ride away, as well as a huge artsy-craftsy shopping building for the souvenir hunters.

Astoria is both a Pro and a Con on the northern routes - while it's another great little one-day town, in Fall it can be skipped by cruises (Columbia Bar is a brutal piece of water - as you'll see in the extensive collection of exhibits at the maritime museum if you do visit).

Personally the first SF RT would be my pick, but purely due to the ease for us to get to all the ports on the other one...